DS Manager at retail company or Staff DS at fintech startup?

Hey folks,

I’m 31M with ~8YOE, currently working as Senior DS at a food delivery tech company at $180K TC fully vested. I have two offers on the table and I’m torn.

Offer A: DS Manager role at a small global retail brand, paying $200K TC, all in cash. I’d have 2 direct reports, own the full DS roadmap, and report to CTO. Big fish in small pond, but my main concern is whether expectations will be reasonable since I’ll be the first DS Manager coming into a DS function that (CTO says) has not delivering impact in the last few months. Also my first people manager role, though I am using to being the team lead at project-level.

Offer B: Staff DS role at a late-stage fintech startup (series G). The total comp is $250K TC with 50% in RSUs. That means the actual cash hitting my account would be $125K first year. IC role with no direct reports, but culture is known be “hectic” (not 996 though).

I figured that Offer A can give me real people management experience that I can leverage to re-enter tech as a DS manager in 18-24 months at a higher level. Offer B has a higher headline number, but I’d be betting on paper money and staying on the IC track. The thing that gives me pause is that retail doesn’t carry the same resume weight as fintech, and the second offer keeps me in the tech ecosystem.

Which would you take?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​